Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Meat Is Murder, So Pass Me the Artichoke

PETA stopped in town today during a 10-city tour to promote World Vegetarian Week (May 19-25). Two PETA interns, doused with fake blood and packaged like meat, lay in the hot Memphis sun to illustrate their "Meat Is Murder" campaign.

The demo was scheduled during the work day, but lucky for me, my editor sent me over to take some pictures for our newspaper. So I was working, but I still got to see the demonstration.

When I got home, I tried something completely new to me — Steamed Whole Artichoke:

I've had plenty of those marinated baby artichokes, but until tonight, I'd never actually cooked or eaten a whole artichoke. I was inspired by an artichoke article and recipe spread in the latest Vegetarian Times. On the side is Orange-Jalepeno Dipping Sauce, also from that Veg Times article.

The tender steamed artichoke was delicious, but man, it was a lot of work. For those who don't know (because I didn't), you only get a tiny bit of artichoke "meat" on the end of each leaf, which you scrape off with your teeth. Then, buried deep in the center under some spiky tentacle things, is the tasty, tiny heart. I accidentally tried to eat the spiky parts, but quickly realized that was a bad idea. Oops!

On the side, I made the Chickpea-Quinoa Pilaf from the Veganomicon:

Spiced with cumin, coriander, and tomato paste, this was one of the best quinoa dishes I've ever had. I think I like the combo of quinoa and chickpeas even more than I like quinoa and black beans. And that's saying a lot ... because I love black beans and quinoa.

How to Steam an Artichoke--------------------------1) Rinse the artichoke to remove dirt or nastiness.2) Cut the tough stem and then trim the pointy tips from each leaf with scissors.3) Rub a lemon half over the cut leaf ends to prevent browning.4) Put about two inches of water in a large pot. Toss in one garlic clove and a bay leaf. Squeeze the rest of the lemon into the water.5) Place artichoke top down in a steamer basket. Place the basket in the pot and cover.6) Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Steam 40-50 minutes or until bottom leaves fall off easily.

14 comments:

I like the hard work of eating an artichoke because it makes me eat slowly (otherwise I eat in 10 seconds...). But I like smaller artichokes, I have to admit it. The water from cooking it with lemon juice is good to detox, btw!

WOW... that is some powerful message right there. It's sad but seomtimes graphic/gruesome images is what it takes to reach people... its easier to turn the other cheek... pretend that no one is getting hurt by meat eating.... it makes me proud to call myself a vegan!

I just ate my first whole artichoke the other day... though it was at a restaurant. I made the mistake of eating the hard part too! After chewing for about five minutes, I tried to discretely spit it into my napkin!! Whoops. So do you think it was worth the effort?

My name is Bianca ...

About Me

I'm a 9-year vegan, 19-year vegetarian from the Mid-South, not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. And that means cornbread, butter beans, and collard greens.
These days, I live in Memphis. Check out my cookbook — Cookin' Crunk. It's filled with yummilicious veganized soul food and country classics.